Data Silos: What are they, and how do you break them down?

In todays digital age, data is the currency that powers growth, innovation, and strategic decision making. As the volume and importance of data continues to grow, so has the trend of siloing of data which carries a heavy cost as it leads to repetition of data, incorrect reporting, missed opportunities, diminished customer experience, and regulatory compliance risks.

Data siloing is a significant obstacle for organisations that must be overcome as data divisions result in inaccuracies and hinder cross-departmental collaboration. Data siloing is a term used for the storage of data, usually locked in a remote system that is controlled by one department, and isolated from the rest of the company. The trapped and inaccessible nature of data storage can create ‘silos‘ and significantly reduce the efficiency and productivity of key decision making. However, there are ways to remove these barriers and put in place a clear, data-driven culture. It‘s important to look at the drawbacks of data silos, understand how they form, and provide solutions of how to break them down.

Understanding why data silos form is the first step in preventing their creation. Data silos can arise for several reasons: they may be a result of an organisation‘s lack of internal communication or understanding of data management. It could be due to historical departmental independence, incompatible internal data storage systems, or push-back from colleagues to change - all of which results in ‘data hoarding‘. The effects of this disjointed data storage can be profoundly negative on an organisation as departments are cut off from key, hindering, strategic decision making.

Removing data silos and implementing a data centric culture requires leadership teams to implement a robust data governance strategy, promote the shared vision for data storage, put into effect a culture that centers around collaboration, improve data literacy across the organisation, and invest in the right data integration technology.

In conclusion, data silos are a potentially huge challenge for organisations, however, recognising the types of silos within your organisation, and their impacts, is the first step to eradicating them. Investing in the right technologies that work for your business, to facilitate data integration, is also a key step in removing data siloing. The road to a silo-free future for any organisation would involve continued learning, as well as monitoring and adapting your data management to ensure that your data works for you, and not against you.